chiefly by this passage that they endeavour to prove the Popes authority 4. Secondly I answer That the holy Scripture commonly speaks of Sacraments in figurative terms thus Circumcision is called Gods Covenant Gen. 17. in these words This is my Covenant every male shall be circumcised that is this is the sign of the Covenant as appears by the following verse Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of the Covenant between me and you So the Paschal Lamb is called the Lords Passover Exod. 12. because the bloud of this Lamb sprinkled on the dore-posts was given as a sign of the Angels favourable passing over the houses of the Israelites as appears by verse 13. of the same Chapter So Baptism is called the washing of Regeneration because it is the Sacrament of it In a word The Eucharistical cup is called the New Testament because it is the sign seal and sacrament of it 5. Thirdly I answer That in holy Scripture Testaments are not always expressed in proper terms without a Figure for the Testament of Jacob Gen. 49. and that of Moses Deut. 33. are nothing else but a chain of Metaphors and other Figures And Civilians will have it that in Testaments we should not regard the proper signification of the words but the intention of the Testator To this I add that Jesus Christ did not then make the New Testament and the New Covenant but only instituted the Seal and Sacrament of them For the Covenant was made with all mankind in the person of Adam after the Fall when God promised him that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head This was afterward renewed with Abraham when God promised him that in his seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed viz. in Christ the blessed seed who hath destroyed the Kingdom of Satan After this it was confirmed by the bloud of Christ shed on the Cross Then it was published through all the World when the Apostles had received the Holy Ghost And lastly Baptism and the Eucharist are the Signs Seals and Sacraments of it 6. Fourthly I answer That by these words To speak clearly or plainly be understood to speak intelligibly so that the Apostles might and ought to understand what he said to them then it is certain that Jesus Christ did speak clearly for to speak sacramentally and according to the stile used in all Sacraments was to speak clearly and not obscurely But if by these words to speak clearly be understood to speak without a figure then it is false that he always spake clearly to his Disciples witness the calling of his Disciples to whom he said St. Matth. 4. follow me and I will make you fishers of men And when he saith else where ye are the salt of the earth the light of the world c. To this I add The Apostles did ask Jesus Christ the meaning of Parables and other things which they did not understand and therefore certainly they had much more reason to ask the meaning of so many strange things as follow from the Mass from Transubstantiation and from the pretended presence of Christs body in the Host viz. how a humane body can be in a point and in divers places at once how the head of Jesus Christ and his whole body could be in his mouth how accidents can be without a subject c. 7. Lastly Seeing Jesus Christ said drink ye all of this cup all Priests whether Jesuites Monks or other Romish Doctors would of necessity be constrained really properly and without a figure to drink of the cup whether melted or not and really to swallow it until they should confess that there are figures in the words of Jesus Christ in the celebration of the Eucharist Objection 2. 8. The second Objection is this The Sacrament of the Eucharist is more excellent then that of the Passover because the Sacrament of the Passover is a type of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the thing typified is always more excellent then the type But if the Sacrament of the Eucharist did not really contain the body and bloud of Christ but was only the sign of it then it would follow that the Sacrament of the Eucharist would not be more excellent then that of the Passover nay the Sacrament of the Passover would be more excellent then that of the Eucharist because a Lamb and its bloud is more excellent then Bread and Wine and the death of a Lamb and the shedding of its bloud doth much better represent the death of Christ and the shedding of his bloud on the Cross then Bread broken and Wine poured into a cup can do Answer 9. To this I answer First That the thing typified by the Paschal Lamb is Jesus Christ and not the Sacrament of the Eucharist as St. Paul shews clearly 1 Cor. 5. when he calls Jesus Christ our Passover in these words Christ our Passover was crucified for us The truth is a whole Lamb without spot or blemish killed and burnt toward the evening and its bloud shed doth very well represent Jesus Christ perfect without sin put to death and his bloud shed toward the end of the World and in the fulness of time but such a Lamb represents nothing of that which is seen in the Eucharist Besides the Types and Sacraments of the Old Testament were instituted that the Faithful of those Times might come to the knowledge of the things typified and signified for the salvation of their souls But the Faithful under the Old Testament never came to the knowledge of the Eucharist by the Paschal Lamb and though they had come to the knowledge of it yet they had had no benefit thereby In a word seeing the Passover and the Eucharist are types images and signs of Jesus Christ 't is very impertinent to say that the Passover is the type of the Eucharist because a type is not properly the type of another type but only of the thing typified as the image of Caesar is not the image of another image of Caesar but only of Caesar himself 10. Secondly I answer that the excellence of one Sacrament above another must be drawn from its form and efficacie and not from its matter because it is form that chiefly gives being to things composed of matter and form But the form of Sacraments depends on the words of Institution because being signs of divine Institution their form can only depend upon the will of God who chooseth certain things to signifie other things and this will of God cannot be known but by revelation which is the Word so that it is properly said that the Word joined with the Element makes the Sacrament Therefore although the Sacrament of the Passover be more excellent then the Eucharist in respect of its matter because the Paschal Lamb and its bloud are more excellent then the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist and that the Lamb and its bloud have a greater analogie with
THE FUNERAL OF THE MASS OR The MASS dead and buried without hope of Resurrection Translated out of French LONDON Printed by Andrew Clark and are to be sold by Randal Taylor at the sign of the Crown in Little Britain 1673. To the Right Honourable The Earl of SHAFTESBURY Lord High Chancellour OF ENGLAND c. MY LORD I Could not without injustice have dedicated this Book to any but your Lordship because as there is no person to whom I am so much obliged so there is no member of either House of Parliament that hath so freely and generously owned the Protestant interest As for my obligations to your Lordship because they are too great to be exprest it is my duty to take all occasions of expressing my thankfulness for them and therefore I take this occasion to proclaim my thankfulness to the World As for your Lordships late owning the Protestant interest in the House of Peers it was so eminent and accompanied with such zeal and courage that next under God and the King your Lordship may deservedly be stiled the chief asserter and promoter of it and consequently the asserter and promoter of the interest of England For the interest of the Protestant Religion and the interest of this Kingdom are so interwoven that the welfare or ruine of either is the welfare or ruine of both Now being obliged by your Lordship both as an English Protestant and also more particularly in my private capacity I beseech God to grant that your life may be long and prosperous your memory and posterity honourable as long as the Sun and Moon shall endure and your soul and body eternally happy when time shall be no more To this Prayer I shall only add that I am unfeignedly My Lord Your Lordships Most affectionate honourer and most humble Servant S. A. The PREFACE THe Author of this Piece was one Mounsieur de Rodon Philosophy Professor in the Royal Colledge at Nismes a City of Languedoc in France where it was written But as soon as it was Printed it was supprest by the command of Authority prohibiting all persons to keep any of them upon I know not what severe penalties and such Copies as could be found were publickly burnt by the Hang man about 1660. Whereupon the poor Gentleman for fear of being condemned to keep company with his Books was forced to fly to Geneva where he not long after died These severities of our Adversaries bring to my remembrance what a learned and ingenious Frenchman once told me viz. that this small Tract hath more netled their Party then any one Piece that ever was extant in France since the Reformation of Religion there Whether that be a mistake I know not but this I dare affirm that though many famous men of that Kingdom have in the memory of this Age written very smartly against the Romish heresies yet there is not one of them whose person and writings have had such hard measure Whence it appears that our Author his very enemies being judges hath made good what he undertook viz. he hath destroyed that great Diana the Mass and hath also by way of prevention destroyed all the Arguments made use of by the Romish Doctors for the restoring and re-establishing of her which he hath so well performed that to this very day not one of them hath dared so much as to attempt to revive her by answering his Book so that here you may see her laid in her grave without hope of resurrection and therefore the Book may very fitly be termed The Funeral of the Mass and consequently the Funeral of Romish heresies and idolatries as the Author well observes For the truth is the Mass and the Romish Religion are almost convertible terms so that if the former be destroyed the latter must vanish into its first nothing and therefore our Author having destroyed the Mass hath destroyed the thing called Popery too As for the monstrous absurdities and blasphemies which flow from this one Romish doctrine of the sacrifice of the Mass they would fill whole volumes but I shall content my self to say that the Mass consists of more gross and abominable Superstitions Phanaticisms and Idolatries then ever have been believed or practised by the most ignorant Pagans What the tenets of the Romanists are and what their practices have been in reference to Protestant Magistrates and People woful and sad experience hath sufficiently taught the World I shall only add that they are as pernicious to our bodies and estates as their heretical Doctrines and idolatrous Services are to our Souls And consequently to introduce Popery into this Kingdome would be an act as unpolitick as Anti-christian as hath been demonstrated in that incomparable piece entituled The established Religion in opposition to Popery But because I know not by what strange infatuation or enchantment or rather by what wonderful judgment of God this monstrous absurd and destructive shall I call it Religion prevails amongst us I thought good to English and Print this small Treatise as the best Antidote against Popery the Holy Scripture excepted that ever I read and for ought I know it is not inferior to the best of this kind that ever was yet extant to which opinion the harsh usage it hath had from our Adversaries as aforesaid doth certainly give no small Testimony But I know that the holy Scripture it self cannot profit except God be pleased to give his blessing much less can this Book and therefore I earnestly beseech him that he would make it prosperous and successful for the good of Souls and if any shall receive benefit by it I desire them to give him all the glory and then I shall think my self infinitely recompensed for my pains in translating it The Contents of the Chapters Chap. I. 1. COncerning the Exposition of these words This is my Body Page 1. Chap. II. 2. Concerning the Exposition of these words He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternal life My flesh is meat indeed c. P. 10. Chap. III. 3. Against Transubstantiation P. 19. Chap. IV. 4. Against the real presence of Christs Body in the Host or consecrated Wafer P. 32. Chap. V. 5. Against the adoration or worshiping of the Host P. 56. Chap. VI. 6. Against the taking away of the cup. P. 78. Chap. VII 7. Against the Mass P. 91. Chap. VIII 8. Containing answers to the objections of the Romish Doctors P. 112. Amend the following Errours of the Press thus PAg. 2. line 5. for obscure read obscurely p. 23. l. 7. for then read else p. 46. l. 22. for accident read accidents p. 49. l. â—2 for being read seing p. 51. l. 3. for that should read that it should p. 57. l. 17. for creatures read creature p. 60. l. 13. for tood read too p. 66. l. 17. for Apostles read Apostle p. 83. l. 12. read Pastors only because p. 105. l. 2. read Council of Trent p. 10â— l. 4. for Mass read Cross p. 115. l.
not be appeased but by the bloudy and ignominious death of the Cross Therefore the justice of God must have changed its nature if sins can be expiated in the Mass without pain or suffering 20. Thirdly To the distinction of Primitive sacrifice which was offered on the Cross and representative commemorative and applicative which is daily offered in the Mass I reply First That what the Council of Trent saith in Session 22. viz. that in the Eucharist there is a sacrifice representative commemorative and applicative of that of the Mass may bear a good sense viz. that there is in it a representation commemoration and application of the sacrifice of the Cross viz. a representation because the bread broken represents the body broken and the wine poured into the cup represents the bloud of Christ shed for the remission of sins a commemoration because all that is done in it is done in remembrance of Jesus Christ and his death according to his own command in these words Do this in remembrance of me and according to what St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 11. As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come and an application because the merit of the sacrifice of the Cross is applied to us not only by the word but also by the Sacraments as we shall shew hereafter But our Adversaries are not content with this for they will have it that in the celebration of the Eucharist there is offered a true and proper sacrifice propitiatory for the sins of the living and the dead which hath been already refuted at large Secondly I say that the application of the sacrifice of the Cross may be considered on Gods part or on mans part on Gods part when he offers Jesus Christ to us with all his benefits both in his Word and Sacraments on mans part when by a true and lively faith working by love we embrace Jesus Christ with all his benefits offered to us both in his Word and Sacraments And this is it that Jesus Christ teacheth us St. John 3. in these words As Moses lifted up the serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up viz. on the Cross that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son viz. to die that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life he doth not say whosoever sacrificeth him in the Mass but whosoever believeth c. And St. Paul shews it clearly in these words God hath set forth Jesus Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud he doth not say through the sacrifice of the Mass but through faith And we really and truly apply the sacrifice of Christs Cross when we have recourse to him as a man applies a Plaister when he hath recourse to it and lays it on the wound But the recourse or refuge of a penitent sinner to the sacrifice of the Cross for obtaining mercy from God is nothing else but Faith As for the distinction of the sacramental and natural being of Jesus Christ it hath been already refuted in the 6. Number 21. I shall conclude this discourse with the testimony of Thomas Aquinas the most famous of all the Romish Doctors and called by our Adversaries the Angelical Doctor This Thomas in Part. 3. Quest 83. Artic. 1. having proposed this Question viz. Whether Christ be sacrificed in the Sacrament of the Eucharist he concludes with these memorable words The celebration of this Sacrament is very fitly called a sacrificing of Christ as well because it is the representation of Christs Passion as because by this Sacrament we are made partakers of the fruit of the Lords Passion And afterward he gives his answer in these words I answer We must say that the celebration of this Sacrament is called a sacrificing of Christ in two respects First Because as Augustine to Simplicius saith we are wont to give to Images the name of the things whereof they are Images as when we see Pictures on a Wall or in a Frame we say this is Cicero that is Salust c. But the celebration of this Sacrament as hath been said above is a representative Image of Christs Passion which Passion is the true sacrificing of Christ and so the celebration of this Sacrament is the sacrificing of Christ. Secondly The celebration of this Sacrament is called the sacrificing of Christ in regard of the effect of Christs Passion because by this Sacrament we are made partakers of the fruit of the Lords Passion Let the Romanists keep to this decision of their Angelical Doctor and we shall agree with them in this point for I am confident that there is not one of the Reformed Religion but will subscribe this true doctrine of Thomas Aquinas CHAP. VIII Containing Answers to the Objections of the Romish Doctors 1. IN the two first Chapters we have answered the two principal Objections of the Romish Doctors drawn from these words This is my body c. and from these he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternal life c. Now we must answer the rest Objection 1. 2. The first Objection is this When the establishing of Articles of Faith the Institution of Sacraments and the making Testaments and Covenants are in agitation men speak plainly and properly and not obscurely or figuravitely But in the celebration of the Eucharist Jesus Christ established an Article of Faith instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist and spake of a Testament and a Covenant for it is said of the Cup that it is the New Testament and the New Covenant in the bloud of Christ yea he spake then to his Disciples to whom he spake in plain and proper terms and not in obscure terms or in figures or parables as he did to the people Answer 3. To this objection I answer First That it is false that Articles of Faith are always expressed in proper terms in holy Scripture as when it is said in the Creed that Jesus Christ sitteth on the right hand of God it is evident that this is a Figure and a Metaphor for God being a Spirit hath neither right hand nor left and all interpreters expound this sitting on Gods right hand metaphorically viz. for that Lordship both of Heaven and Earth which he hath received from God his Father as earthly Princes make their Lieutenants whom they appoint to govern in their name to sit on the right side of them Again When it is said St. Matth. 16. Vpon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and I will give thee the Keys of the kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven c. It is manifest that these are Figures and Metaphors as Bellarmin confesseth in Book 1. of the Bishop of Rome chap. 10. and yet it is